Mother War
“One day you are going to lose everything you have. Nothing will prepare you for that day. Not faith... not religion... nothing. When someone you love dies, you will know emptiness... you will know what it is to be completely and utterly alone. You will never forget and never ever forgive. The lonely do not usually speak as completely and intimately as James O'Barr does here in this book - so, if anything, at least take this lesson from The Crow: ...think about what you have to lose... If you are someone who has nothing to lose, then you are already here... And your lesson is a much more difficult one.” -John Bergin Foreword to the J. O’Barr's ‘The Crow’ Despite the common understanding of immortality; a god can die. Deprived of their aspects in order to garner worship from mortals, they must directly involve themselves; an extremely risky proposal. Without the faith of their followers, a god’s ability to maintain their own divinity falters and then fails. Their home plane falls into decay and become vulnerable to outside assault. Should a god lose the last of their worshipers: they lose their connection to the world of mortals entirely and what happens to them after that is unknown. To date, no true god has suffered such a fate to the knowledge of any being on any plane of existence. But if Imperius: god of Domination and patron of the Daymorain Empire has his way, his sister Mother War, goddess of War will be the first. Mother War served as the goddess of War, battle, conquest and military might and honor. Warriors, knights and master strategists all paid homage to Her on the eve of battle. From the smallest skirmishes to crusades that spanned entire dimensional planes, Mother War laid claim to it all. And in her glory were the seeds of her downfall. Her brother Imperius, whose ways of politics, wealth, and prestation were anathema to her - grew jealous of her glory. As the society of man evolved; the warlike days dwindled. Renown was no longer measured by the sword but by coin and title. In such a society, Mother War’s power began to stagnate. As Imperius’s church grew in power, his sister’s temporal domain became threatened. Her worshipers were persecuted, her various aspects could not move freely through their kingdom and attempts to extend her power beyond borders of Daymore were thwarted as her pilgrims to foreign lands were intercepted and terminated by powers both foreign and domestic. And then in a single act of betrayal, a coup was launched that severed the royal bloodline of Daymorian kings - all worshippers of Mother War - and the rise of the Imperius Empire. During the coup Mother War’s son, Kharas, aspect of Honorable Combat was betrayed by his sister, Dame Conquest, and burnt as an offering to Imperius. As he died on the pyre, his essence was stolen by Imperius and assimilated, his soul and personality all that his mother loved was destroyed in the process. Mother War attempted to rescue her son from Imperius’s fires, assuming mortal form as her chosen avatar only to discover that her treacherous daughter allowed Imperius’s own servants to invade and usurp her home plane of GloryHall and severing her connection to it, exiling her to the mortal plane. For her cooperation, Imperius honored the letter of their agreement and allowed Dame Conquest to sit upon her mother’s throne…before promptly slaying her upon it and assimilating her essence into his own, gaining the divine portfolio of conquest. Now Mother War’s power dwindles, she is hunted and exiled form her home. The death of her son has filled her with a terrible rage and war no longer holds to any tenants of honor, restraint or code of conduct. Her worshipers have been declared heretics within Daymore and are persecuted relentlessly by Imperius’s Inquisitors. Her remaining aspects have scattered, fearful for their existence and do not answer her calls nor the prayers of her few remaining faithful. Despite everything however Mother War has vowed that whilst she has been forced to taste defeat, she shall never know surrender and as she rallies her own tremendous force of will, ferocity and martial prowess, she has vowed to instruct her treacherous brother a lesson regarding what war is truly all about.